Fuel Follies

Youre alone in your Lancair Evolution single-engine turboprop. You have just refueled at Chicagos Midway Airport and are headed to Denver, which your computer says is 788 nm away. The weather is good. The flight planning youve accomplished says it will take 3+15 and 121 gallons of the 170 available with the tanks filled. On startup, you reset your fuel totalizer to 170 gallons.

Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Aircraft fuel indications can be significantly inaccurate due to factors like improper refueling (not reaching full capacity), incorrect fuel totalizer calibration (K-factor), and misleading gauge readings.
Even with dual fuel monitoring systems, discrepancies can lead to unexpected low fuel situations, as totalizers depend on accurate initial input and calibration, while gauges can be affected by aircraft attitude or sensor issues.
Pilots must proactively verify actual fuel quantities, ensure totalizer accuracy, and always defer to the most conservative (pessimistic) fuel indication when systems disagree to ensure flight safety.

See a mistake? Contact us.

You’re alone in your Lancair Evolution single-engine turboprop. You have just refueled at Chicago’s Midway Airport and are headed to Denver, which your computer says is 788 nm away. The weather is good. The flight planning you’ve accomplished says it will take 3+15 and 121 gallons of the 170 available with the tanks filled. On startup, you reset your fuel totalizer to 170 gallons.

While ATC keeps you down low longer that you would have wanted, you’re soon at cruising altitude and your instrumentation predicts you’ll have 35-36 gallons over the destination airport. So far, so good.